Atlanta and the Korean Consulate: May 13th~May 15th

I left Aunt Mary's on Wednesday evening and headed to Atlanta to meet up with Erin. Her sister, brother-in-law, and neice drove her to an exit off of the highway where I picked her up. It was so sad to see her say goodbye to her family, I almost felt awkward witnessing it. The sadest thing was see her adorable, little neice (Annabel Leigh) with a sad face and tears streaming down her face as she waved bye bye to Erin when we drove off. It made me think of how emotional I would likely get when it was time for me to say goodbye on the day we would fly off.

When we finally get to Mary Frances' house, I had a detailed list of directions on how to get into her 3 story home. MF wouldn't be home until the next day. She travels constantly for her job, currently to Tennessee. After finding the key inside the lock box in it's special hiding place and opening a door and entering a code and opening more doors, we got our crap and settled in. After I called her and fed the kitties, we soon discovered that there was no running water. MF called her neighbor and we walked next door with whatever pots and large containers we could find to fill up with water to be able to flush the toilets, wash our faces and whatnot. Erin and I discussed how convenient it is to have running water. I really don't think I could live without it; it's a bitch.

The next morning, we got up early and found our way to the Korean Consulate downtown.

Thank whoever came up mapquest, otherwise I'd never find my way around. Anywho, we had a group interview scheduled and the Korean man who interviewed us just basically talked about himself and how great Korea was the whole time. The first girl to be questioned had a degree to be a Principal at a public school and tried to kiss ass a little, but it didn't really work out for her. I mean she got her Visa, but he ignored her attempts to show off what she researched about Korea and all her qualifications. When it was my turn to be questioned, he quickly noted my English degree (I think he was happy about it) and asked me why I wanted to go to Korea. I used my bartending experience at Kan-Ki to get out of the question. (For those of you that don't know, I bartended at a Korean owned Japanese restaurant for 4 years and that's one of the main reasons I chose to come to Korea.) I told him I got to know my Korean co-workers and about their culture and all he wanted to know is what kind of restaurant it is. When I told him it's a Japanese Steakhouse he suddenly went into this long tangent about the time he spent working in Japan, etc. Then I was off the hook and he moved onto Erin. He pretty much breezed over her as well and went on about himself some more. She even took a picture with him after the interview was over, knowing that he would gladly do it.

Needless to say, we got our Visas. We went back to MF's, still no running water, so I thought we should just go hang out in Little 5 Points (way bigger than the 5 Points in Jax. btw). We get out there and walk around, have a shot, buy some books, etc. Erin wanted to find Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, and she did. I bought Venus in Furs by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch (whom the term Masochism came from). I thought this book would compliment The Story of O, which I just bought from Chamblin Bookmine the previous week. [Oh, and speaking of O, at the Foodcourt in the mall where the Consul was, one of the meun items was called Story of Oreo. Ha!] We then had another drink and played some expensive pool because Erin and I will pay whatever cost to play pool, apparently. We went back to MF's to meet up with her and go grab some sushi. When MF caught her "second wind" we went down to Highlands for some drinks...which turned into a lot of drinks equaling drunken pool and a taxi ride back to MF's where the driver played Everclear and we drunkenly sang along to it. Eh, what can ya do.

Girls' nights are always good nights. MF said she will come visit us in Korea. I hope she does. After all, it's the perfect opportunity ;)

The next day, we left Atlanta and on the way back home we stopped in Hilliard so Erin could say hi and bye to her Nanny and Papi. They seemed worried about us going to Korea. They said a prayer for us and told us to be safe. It was cute.

When we got back to my house, my Gramma and Aunt Mary were already there. They decided to come to my Birthday/Going Away Party....


...to be continued in Birthday/Going Away Party